Monday, December 30, 2013

Monday Meanderings

Being a grandmother is the best! I'm loving all the photos of precious little Simon, and can hardly wait to hold him.

91 days and counting.

Tina's taking weekly photos to document his growth.

I'm grateful for technology that allows me to see photos as soon as she posts them, and then turn around and share them with other friends and family. It makes it a little easier being so far away.

A little.

But to be honest, this is THE HARDEST PART of being a missionary. I knew it would be tough, but I didn't realize how tough.

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Christmastime in Argentina is quite different from what we were used to in the U.S. But we enjoyed the sweet fellowship of friends who invited us to join them for the holiday. Here the big meal is on Christmas Eve. Instead of turkey or ham with all the trimmings, we feasted on suckling pig and massive amounts of beef grilled outdoors. We ate outside too, starting at 11:30 p.m. with a variety of salads before moving on to the meat and then finishing with fruit salad and a cousin to fruit cake called pan dulce. At midnight the fireworks began.

Christmas Day we had leftovers for lunch with our friends, and went swimming to cool off. It hit 104 degrees that afternoon, so we really appreciated the pool. Not sure I'll ever get used to Christmas being in summer.

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After three straight nights of thunderstorms, we realized the newly plastered wall in the garage had wet spots. So instead of prepping and painting like we'd planned, we're going to wait until we can get the exterior part of that wall completely finished. Poco a poco.

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The heat makes me crave salad. Cold, refreshing salad. So yesterday I spent an hour looking up new recipes to try. I hope they taste as good as they sound -- and look in the pretty pictures. Do you have any especially good salad recipes you'd like to share?

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I've quit believing the weather forecast. We have consistently blown right past the projected highest temperature. Like today. It was supposed to reach 91. It's 99 right now. This has happened every.single.day for weeks now. Is it that hard to get it right once in a while?

I would like to send some of our heat to you, in exchange for some of your cold. Okay?

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How are you bringing in the new year? New Year's here is like the 4th of July in the states, with massive amounts of fireworks. Only they don't start until midnight.

This year we're going to celebrate with friends from church and their extended families. Guess what I plan to take for my contribution to the food table? Salads!

And yes, I'm sure it will be like Christmas Eve with dinner starting late. Just because it's not how we do things in the U.S. doesn't make it wrong. Just different.

6 comments:

I've been enjoying the pictures of Simon. He really is adorable!I really wish we could trade some hot for some cold. It was 12 degrees when I went to work today. Brrrr....We'll be going out with friends and then to their house to bring in the new year. We'll be back home and in bed by 12:30 or so, so I can get up and go to work the next day. :)

Thanks for all you're giving up to honor the calling God has place on your life. I cannot imagine how difficult it is. I've thought of you so much since he was born. I'll be counting down the days with you!

I, too, have enjoyed the pictures of Simon. I believe being away from the grandkids would be hard. I know I felt the biggest loss I had in being a missionaries' kid was not getting to know my extended family. I have yet to meet some of my cousins, and know very few of my second cousins. So I can somewhat relate to the separation you are feeling.